That tune she played: it caught my ear.
So sweet, so lovely! I listened as my body
reflected the beat, the drive of the bellows
and her fingers fleet on the keys.
Entranced, I did not think to capture with my phone
the notes and rhythms as they floated to my ears.
Alas! I will never hear that tune the same again.

Start with
fiddles,
at least two.
Three or four are fine,
and more, well, we don’t
turn away any contribution.
Jam is always better
when the making is shared.
Banjo, mandolin, guitar.
We need the rhythm, the unique flavors
of their strings and wood bodies.
One bass will do.
Or two if two will.
Always an autoharp. and sometimes
a harmonica or spoons or bones.
“Good enough for old time!” my friend John would say.
The trombone? He plays good rhythm
and toots discreetly towards the floor
reveling in our shared music-making.
Sometimes a clogger dances,
providing rhythm and joy with her feet and, later,
a story about a musical trip to Dublin during The Troubles,
complete with a whispered bomb threat
at a pub where her dancing ensured safety.
Did I mention the tunes?
Old time, from West Virginia, North Carolina and Kentucky.
And sometimes not-so-old-time
from Chicago or Nashville or Quebec.
Their names remind us of stories:
Greasy Coat, Abe’s Retreat, Sadie at the Back Door,
Soldier’s Joy, Pays de Haut, Arkansas Traveler,
Cat Scratching A Pear Tree in Grandma’s Backyard.
I might have made up that last one
long ago when I could not remember
the tune I really wanted to start.

We are not English nor do we live in the country.
Yet in our everyday clothes and smooth-soled shoes
we dance together.
Delicate music swirls through the room
as we walk through the patterns.
Coaxed by the caller we join hands,
circle left, give and take, turn by the right,
go back to back.

For just a few hours the community suspends its everyday rules.
We dance with strangers, smile at everyone,
and gaze deeply into our partners’ eyes
if only to find a point of stillness
so that we will not be dizzy as we twirl.

In the dance we know that we are all graceful,
all capable of success, all fully accepted by each other.
And the music is always perfect.